What is the difference between "Factory New" and "Minimal Wear" items?

I was wondering what the difference (in looks) was between 'factory new' and 'minimal wear' in Counter Strike: GO.

2 Answers

A random exterior quality is chosen when a weapon skin is dropped, uncrated or received from a Trade Up Contract. The exterior quality simulates randomized wear and tear on the skin, and is determined when the skin drops. A weapon's exterior quality will not degrade over time and can never be changed.

The exterior quality hierarchy is the following, from best to worst:

• Factory New
• Minimal Wear
• Field-Tested
• Well-Worn
• Battle-Scarred

Source:

Overall you can say that Factory New looks best and the skin quality will get worse from quality to quality.

Factory new is a fully clean gun while the minimal wear has a few scratches but not really anything significant. If the prices vary too much, I would recommend getting the minimal wear as it is cheaper and still looks as good.